Akron Art Library

Joan Colbert, Limoges Market, 2006 - Linoleum block print

About the Artist

Joan ColbertAmerican, born 1951, Akron, OhioLives in Akron, Ohio

Joan Colbert is a printmaker based in the Highland Square neighborhood of Akron. Drawing inspiration from literature, music and her environment, the artist often creates works that are thematic in nature. Limoges Market is part of a series inspired by the music of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky’s arrangement is a musical description of an 1874 exhibition for painter Viktor Hartmann at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. After visiting this exhibition, Mussorgsky was inspired to compose his piano piece to compliment the works of Hartmann. Most of the paintings by Hartmann are lost now. Colbert’s block prints offer a reimagining of Hartmann’s work through her interpretation of Mussorgsky’s music. This series began as a way for the artist to visualize and interpret Mussorgsky’s music, but became an homage to the story itself: the musician, the artist and the artwork live on only through the music that it inspired.

To learn more about her work, visit: joancolbert.com, Joan Colbert Studios in Akron or Don Drumm Studios and Gallery.